The Courage to Doubt

by Robert Davidson

The Hebrew Bible is, in part, a history of individuals who, in order to retain faith in God, were led to rebel against and question what was being confidently affirmed about God. Jacob, Moses. Jeremiah and the authors of many of the Psalms are obvious examples. Robert Davidson tracks this important theme as it emerges in the patriarchal, Mosaic, and prophetic traditions of the Hebrew Bible. He helps the reader see that this theme is particularly relevant today when many, even within the believing community, find themselves forced to question and doubt, and often do so with unnecessarily guilty consciences.

254 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1983

About the author

Robert Davidson is a professional writer and editor based in Highland Scotland. He is the founder and managing director of Sandstone Press and the author, co-author, and editor of many books as well as a published poet, lyricist and libretist. Before altering his life’s course he worked for over thirty years (having left education early) as a civil engineer. It is this experience that informs Site Works.

Davidson has been Secretary of the Neil Gunn Memorial Trust since its inception in 1986 and was reviews editor of Northwords magazine from 1999 to 2001. As managing editor for the following three years, he shifted the focus of the magazine from new writing to a more broadly based arts content. He established Sandstone Press in Dingwall in 2002, and is managing editor of it and its online magazine, Sandstone Review.

Davidson has published two collections of poems, The Bird & The Monkey (Highland Printmakers, 1996) and Total Immersion (Scottish Cultural Press, 1998). He was editor of the water-themed anthology After The Watergaw (Scottish Cultural Press, 1998). The book length sequence 'Columba' was published in its entirety by Poetry Scotland and was performed as part of the Cromarty Book Festival in 2002, and his libretto Dunbeath Water was performed at Highland Festival 2004.

Books written by Robert Davidson have been short listed for the Saltire Society, Scottish Arts Council, and Boardman Tasker Awards.

Reviews

[James McGrath · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a book that I read many years ago, and it is one that deserves to be a classic. There must be hundreds and hundreds of books about faith as a biblical theme. Yet doubt, uncertainty, and questioning are also well represented in the Bible, and yet the number of books that explore that aspect of biblical literature are very few. Robert Davidson's book not only does this, but does it extremely well. Read it, and it will enhance your spiritual life and your appreciation of the Bible.